capt_oats

Was looking at the same info. As a comparison Marvin was playing at the same level (National league) before he arrived, his league stats were; 14/15 - 9 goals 3 assists in 32 games 13/14 - 2 goals 2 assists in 19 games 12/13 - 6 goals 8 assists in 39 games 11/12 - 0 goals 0 assists in 12 games http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/marvin-johnson/leistungsdaten/spieler/216564/plus/0?saison=2014 Also for what it's worth it seems that Frear has been used off the bench a fair bit this season which probably explains the 1 goal. Started 7 but subbed on in 12.

Jack Leitch scores for Airdrie

Dom Thomas scores for QotS against United

That is an absolutely SUPERB name. Edit: Just saw Fry's quote that we apparently "showed an interest". http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/sport/football/posh/transfer-news-premier-league-club-chase-leo-offers-for-strikers-nabi-deal-collapses-2-5-million-bid-for-maddison-1-7771966

No idea if this was the "source" of the original rumour or not https://twitter.com/Winners_Bus/status/817015804000608257 but it's the only mention online that I've seen.

I think you're on to plums as far as a contract extension for Ainsworth goes. Not least because Cadden has that side of the park nailed down and I'd think that MacLean will be viewed as being next in line after him. For what it's worth I like Ainsworth but given he's pushing 30 and you'd think would be one of our higher earners I can't really see a solution; I'd have thought he'd want games rather than being used off the bench as much as he has and I can't imagine he'd be that keen on a wage drop that would reflect a change in squad status, though obviously I could be totally wrong on that. I don't know the guy and in fairness he's on record as saying that he wants to stay. I'm also not sure it's fair to say he'd be starting almost every week under any other manager than McGhee either. Other than his first season it's largely been an equal(ish) split between him starting and being used off the bench. It's probably fair to say his absences from the starting XI have felt a bit more pointed under McGhee though. His league appearances are below; 13/14 (McCall) started - 22 off the bench - 7 unused sub - 4 suspended - 0 not in squad - 0 14/15 (McCall/Baraclough) started - 19 off the bench - 15 unused sub - 4 suspended - 0 not in squad - 0 15/16 (Baraclough/McGhee) started - 17 off the bench - 12 unused sub - 6 suspended - 2 not in squad - 1 16/17 (McGhee) started - 7 off the bench - 11 unused sub - 2 suspended - 0 not in squad - 0 As far as Brill goes, having seen him for the 20s I honestly wouldn't have any more confidence in him than I do in Samson (which isn't much). He looks overweight and has next to no agility. Seriously, have a look at some of the goals he's shipped for the 20s on YouTube it's like he's going down in stages (particularly the 'home' game against Aberdeen). He's obviously had a nightmare injury at ICT but he genuinely looks like someone who has only managed 20 mins of first team football in almost 2 years. I do agree that a new goalkeeper would be most welcome though. McGhee's already said he doesn't expect Laing to be back, which has been on the cards for ages tbf and in truth I don't think it'd be a stretch for Kennedy being far behind him out the door especially with Ferguson having shown up reasonably well and Barry Maguire having made the bench this season too. I'd imagine McDonald will be off to Australia at the end of the season and fair enough if that's what he wants to do. He'll be 34 this year and has been absolutely brilliant for us since he's been back. If Moult's still here after the window closes then it'd certainly be good business if the club can get a 1 year extension done with a view to him moving in the summer. Edit: Here's that u20s game vs Aberdeen I referenced. Goals at 1:00 and 4:20...

FWIW: here are the goals from the St Mirren v QoTS game. Thomas seems to have been pretty involved,

Going by a couple of comments on Stranraer's thread on P&B Watt didn't really offer much; "the square root of feck all" springs to mind. As Tonicg says seemed to be on the bench for the most part but I'm fairly sure I remember seeing that he'd managed a few starts. Edit: seems he made 12 appearances https://twitter.com/stranraerfc/status/817456330403434496

if it's the photo that went up on twitter the other day i'm pretty sure it's Alfie Agyeman

I think that there's a general feeling amongst Aberdeen fans that he's been on a steady decline since he came back from his injury so in a sense it's not *that* much of a surprise. He seems to have been getting absolutely bodied by opposition forwards on an increasingly regular basis. If you look at the goal Moult scored against him at Fir Park last year you can start to see why the supporters of a side aiming to be at the top end of the league might be grumbling. It's notable that he wasn't in the starting line up for Aberdeen in the abandoned game at Pittodrie but came into the side in the games that followed. Also, a fair number of the Aberdeen squad are pushing 30 and in the case of Hayes and McGinn may be looking to move. It's not inconceivable that McInnes (if he actually sticks around at Aberdeen) might be thinking about freshening up his squad and a centre half they had tied up on a 4 year deal who's losing his pace might not be the worst place to start. It seems a stretch to imagine they'd just let him walk away with a year left on his deal though, unless of course they really didn't see him as part of their long term plans and were keen to free up his wage...and even then it's pushing it a bit. McManus is 35 this year and as it stands is our only experienced centre half. The shambles up in Dingwall last season with Kennedy and Laing was a fairly stark reminder of that. Regardless of what you think of him in terms of ability for someone of his age McManus has barely missed a game. He's an ever present this season and if his Transfermarkt profile is in any way accurate it seems he's only missed 5 games since he's been at the club (that might be miles out so I'm happy to stand corrected). There's obviously an argument that McHugh has a good few seasons at centre half under his belt but even then at 23 he's the same age as Heneghan and seems to be earmarked as being a key part of our midfield so while I'm sure he could fill in as cover it'd mean dropping him out of his midfield role. On the face of it, assuming we could cover his wages Reynolds ticks about every box going for us. The only obvious stumbling block is the fact he has a year and a half left at Pittodrie and I'm sure would be on a more than decent wage; - former player - experienced left sided centre half - played under McGhee - knows the current senior pros & staff - knows the league All in all, I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if we were interested in the medium term but reading that all back, that's way too much thought on my part over a bit of speculation.

If there is any interest on our part then it's not on a PCA. He signed an extension at Aberdeen until 2018. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/26380852

He's started the last 3 and they've won them all (vs us, Accies and Hearts). In fact he's started 11 of 21 games in the league this season coming off the bench in 3. He's missed one because of suspension and 5 on the bench. It actually wouldn't surprise me if we were in for him as our reliance on McManus as left sided centre half is notable.

I think there's a bit of further context as well. When Baraclough signed Robinson on the 28th August, the strikers at the club; McDonald, Moult, Fletcher and Clarkson only had 2 league goals between them in 5 games and we were 1 win in 6 with 5 losses. Fletcher had been injured after scoring in the first game of the season and Moult had only just got off the mark in the league against St Johnstone. Robinson was just in the door at which point Moult went on to score 3 in his next 4 by which point Baraclough had been emptied and between them Moult and McDonald went on to score 10 goals between them in the time between McGhee arriving and Robinson leaving. So in the time between him signing and moving to Port Vale the Moult and McDonald partnership had 14 league goals between them. With the 2 strikers in that sort of form and a new manager appointed he was never really going to get a look in, the fact that Baraclough had been indulged in a trolley dash during the summer meant that it was hardly surprising there would be expendable players around the squad. Basically Robinson only started 3 games and made 8 sub appearances. In total he played 299 minutes of league football and 57 minutes in the league cup for Motherwell. There's no way you can really be revisionist about things, he offered next to nothing in what little time he did have but equally with the benefit of hindsight he was a panic signing from a manager who was miles out his depth, had been found out by the players and was struggling to get any sort of performances out of the squad he'd assembled. Also, unfortunately for Robinson he arrived at the club just at the point the two strikers ahead of him in the pecking order had struck up a partnership and found a bit of form. It's worth noting that he only managed 2 goals in 14 games for Port Vale last season after he'd left Fir Park so it's definitely a stretch to say that he's been in any way prolific since he moved (or for that matter prior to him arriving, he had 12 in 72 for Doncaster).

Ha! I'm sure Wrexham probably do have a sell on clause but 40% would be pretty wild.

it's part of the terms of the negotiated payment package agreed between the club, boyle, hutchison and (i think) the well society. basically for the next 3 years their repayment is coming from transfer income rather than a fixed payment plan. i'm sure someone who was at the AGM can explain better than i but that's the gist. the detail (though not the % amount) was listed in the statement when the fan ownership deal went through. Edit: here you go "An important element in the agreement is that loan repayments for the first three years will be made from a percentage of player transfer income only. This means that the club will not be burdened with loan repayments from regular income during this period, but will still benefit from player transfers by receiving a percentage of transfer fee income. After the initial three year period, outstanding loans will be repaid on a fixed payment schedule. All of these factors protect the financial security of the club." http://www.thewellsociety.co.uk/2016/10/28/well-society-statement-a-new-era/

Quite. Omar Bogle is Grimsby's top scorer and he's being linked with Championship clubs with offers being quoted at £350k. http://footballleagueworld.co.uk/rotherham-united-allegedly-launch-six-figure-bid-for-prolific-forward/

I could well be wrong but I read the comment as being the Johnson deal was equal to or more than the previous fee.

For a bit of context, Palace's spending so far this season is £50m plus an undisclosed fee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016%E2%80%9317_Crystal_Palace_F.C._season#Transfers_in with £43m recouped https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016%E2%80%9317_Crystal_Palace_F.C._season#Transfers_out

If a Premier League side is involved and he wants to go I don't see us standing in his way but I'd imagine we'd be after a fair bit more than £500k. By all accounts we got £600k for Marvin Johnson from a League 1 side (going by Alan Burrows tweet that (cumulatively) the fee for Johnson was the most we've brought in for a player since 2009 https://twitter.com/Alan_Burrows/status/806872501854867456 ). It's 2+2 but the reported fee for Clarkson that season was £600k so... Either way if nothing else it's good to see Moult being quoted as being of interest to an EPL side rather than League 1 jobbers etc.

They've just sacked Sheridan as well.

I can definitely understand that thinking and the gap between starts for Lucas is a fair point. Having said that he started the last 3 games and had been involved in the last 5 which saw a run of results XXLWX (though obviously the latter draw was by and large down to Lucas' sending off) so for that reason alone and a caveat that I'd imagine Lucas' deal is fairly low risk I'd be surprised if we binned him just at the point he was starting to get a run of games under his belt. Assuming he'd not suddenly be looking at dramatically increased terms I wouldn't be surprised if we extended Lucas' deal until summer. For me I think it probably hinges more on what our plans are with Lasley rather than the direct comparison between Lucas & McHugh. In terms of Lucas you've got a 24 year old (albeit somewhat injury prone) player who plays in that area of the park and the 37 year old captain who has been more frequently been sacrificed when we've been chasing games. It's notable that unlike last season where our midfield fell to bits without Lasley it seems to have been less the case this term (though you can obviously point to the teams we've played without Lasley as being more relevant than Lasley being missing). I'd look at Pearson coming in as taking the responsibility off Clay, McHugh replacing Lasley and Cadden being a fixture in the midfield with Lucas adding a bit of depth and the likes of MacLean, Campbell, Turnbull, Hastie et al being transitioned into the side gradually. Going by McGhee's press conference the other week the indication seemed to be that there was flexibility to bring in a couple without others leaving so in that respect I'd say it probably depends on just how much difference it makes budget-wise either way if we extend Lucas' deal for another 6 months or not.

The more I watched the Lucas red on the Alba coverage the more I'm kind of conflicted about it. I mean, there can't really be any complaints about it. It's a red card. However considering Cole stayed on the park for a similar, both feet off the ground, studs up challenge on Lucas himself in front of the linesman in the ICT game then I have a degree of sympathy. It's a daft challenge but equally he's not gone in to *do* Donati, he's won the ball cleanly albeit in a reckless manner. McGhee seemed to invoke the "Paul Scholes" defence for it in so much as his view was that it was a red card but it wasn't malicious, he's not very good at tackling and in going into the challenge has tried to protect himself. Which to me is a pretty fair assessment. Also, I can't help but feel that given the frequent complaints about lack of physicality in our midfield, to the point that I read someone bemoaning Ainsworth stepping out a challenge to win a throw in then had Lucas shirked that 50/50 there's every chance he'd be getting grief for that. Ultimately he left the team in a hole but I suppose my view of the whole thing might have been different had Moult not nodded in that equaliser. Edit: Apropos of nothing but Lucas' red card was the third game in a row involving Accies that there's been a sending off. Lucas on Saturday, McMann against Aberdeen and MacGregor for Celtic the week before.

Summer 2018 IIRC

There's yer Dom Thomas joining QoTS on loan til the end of the season. http://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2017/01/01/thomas-joins-the-doonhamers/ Edit: Lobey_Dosser beat me to it

It is but he's started the last 3 games and been involved in the last 5. Generally players who are likely to be let go don't get that sort of involvement. I'd imagine he'll get his baws toed for the red card today but I wouldn't be surprised if his deal is extended til the end of the season.